Everyone has story to tell. And mine took some months before I finally had the chance to post it. I am so busy with things at home and still struggling to find a new job other than doing the house choirs and so. Well anyways, I am happy that I can update my blog. :)

I am still thinking if I am going to make this post a legal version of the topic or not. Since I still don't have a Photoshop on my computer, I guess, my posts will always be on queue. *sigh* Also, I can't still figure out the letter from the computer my bf gave me. Though typing was not really my main concern, it is not easy to guess where the letters are, yet I want to train my self using the AZERTY keyboard.

Okay, let's not change topics. This is all about the flight. Sorry if I can't remember all of the details but I will try to make everything as realistic as possible. LOL.

As stated in my title, this is my very first flight abroad. I wasn't sure of the things I did but sure thing is everything is thrilling and exciting. If I am not mistaken, me and my cousin had a seven (7) or less hours of travel from the Philippines to Abu Dhabi. And from that, there's nothing much to say for we just stayed there for three short hours.

But before proceeding to other country, let me first share with you my experience with the Immigration inside the Philippine airport.

Luggage checked, fees paid, now, it's time for the passport to be checked. For my cousin, it was never a hassle. The officer from the window just smiled at her and placed stamp on her passport. Seeing her with what she experienced never gave me assurance that I will have a hassle-free checking too. And now, my turn. I can still remember the face of the girl who checked my passport. She asked how old I am, where am I going, where will I accommodate, so on and so fort. I know from myself that I am prepared, everyone kept on telling me that I will be asked by the same question so I better be ready, and, they're so so right. The girl handed me a piece of paper and asked me to proceed to the Interview Office. The time that I received the paper, my heart pounded so fast as I carry myself to the room on the right side of the checking area. There are also girls and guys writing and being asked so many questions.

"Am I not be able to fly to the Netherlands now? What if they hold me for so long that I missed the flight? Will I really be able to be granted by the Immigration?". These were just the questions that keeps on running through my mind as I shakily answer the test paper (the feeling is far worse than my final exam in college and interview with my boss from my job).

Inside the room, I was asked with the following questions:- How old are you?- Where are you going?- What are you going to do there?- What is your relationship with them?- How long will you stay there?- Do you have supporting documents with you?- How did you get your Schengen Visa?- Why is the Schengen Visa from the Netherlands being processed in Malaysia, not in the Philippines?

Other questions that the interviewer threw on me were just some sort of chikka. Aside from the experience I will get from visiting the homeland of my boyfriend, I am going to attend the wedding of his bother too, so they also asked about what is stated in the wedding invitation. Too bad that I forgot to ask about the location of the ceremony. So what the officer just did is translated everything using Google Translate App. And that was funny. Also, one should really have the complete information on how to get the Visa. I saw that the officer wrote, "Well knowledgeable on how she got her Visa". But it is strict and they really want to verify if everything is true, otherwise I will stay here in the Philippines. (Oh yeah, what else can I do? Haha.)

When the officer finally finished the interview, I went out of the office with sigh and I had my passport stamped. Yes! But that was my very first heart attack that day.

Few minutes before the take off, I was able to see the sun and the crafts parked beside the run way, that is simply awesome. So what did I expected on my first flight? You guess! YES! FOOD!

The pictures below were the food I had from my first flight. I can't remember what is with the first meal but the it was so filling (Of course, those are food!). I need to eat everything out because I got exhausted from the interview at the Immigration. Left side picture is from Etihad Airways, while the one from the side is from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

I should change then the title of this post to "My First Flight's Meak". Hihi. Well. That's not funny. -_- Sorry.

Another thing is that, when we arrived at Abu Dhabi, it is twelve (12) midnight already and the next flight (which is in our ticket) is one (1) in the morning, we just roamed around the airport to see what can we have, and since we only have few hours of stay before the boarding, we just looked on the stalls near the gates. The airport is filled with a lot of Filipino people and even the staffs there speak Tagalog.

Then came again another little tiny heart attack. We cannot see the gate of our next flight so we asked a staff to confirm. She said that there is no such flight for the night and it will be on the twelve (12) of the afternoon. It must be an error.

In our ticket, it says that we will leave in the afternoon of the next day. We then wondered. The staff suggested that we can have a free meal for the night. FREE MEAL? Who will not give in? Hihi. As per suggestion, we had a bowl of Salade Niçoise, orange juice and chicken sandwich and we had them from Brioche Dorée (for free!). It is good that we never gave up looking for the flight, it was there. The second plane was smaller than the first one from Etihad. All in all, I had eight (8) movies while on board.

That was a nice experience, and it is really memorable. :D Something else happened inside the plane. Now, this is totally another thing. On our way to Abu Dhabi, I was sitting beside two Filipino guys in my left, my cousin on my right (you guessed it right, we are in the inner lane, which kinda sucks, but well, can't do anything about it). Few minutes before the landing, the guy on my left fell asleep so deeply that the attendant needed to shake his shoulder a few times before he came back to his senses. Such a scary thing if I flew with a dead guy beside me, I wasn't even able to help. But that's okay, after 45 seconds of shaking him, he was able to wake up. And me, I almost had a heart attack.

For those who will fly and sleep in the airplane, please don't sleep that deep. Flight attendants get scared and we don't want other passengers to feel what I felt.

I was happy we never had any problems aside from that. We had a safe flight and everything was on time. My boyfriend was prompt at the Schipol Airport to pick us up. After, we went straight to their place to take some rest, because the next day, we started exploring the beautiful country of The Netherlands.

Have you been abroad already? Was there something weird that happened? I would love to hear your experience!

2 comments:

Geez~ they're such crabs. But at least you were able to leave on time. When I first left, they asked for my ID and asked my age in each cubicle when I clearly have a working visa. I thought I won't be able to go. As they said, "It's only in the Philippines." Haha! But the second time, no one asked.